I was pleased to meet Saw Wee Eh Htoo, an environmental and human rights activist from Karen State in Burma. Sheffield has a small Karen community who were welcomed to the city in 2009 through the Gateway Protection Programme, operated by the British government in partnership with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Saw Wee Eh Htoo briefed me on developments in Karen State, which I will raise with the Foreign Secretary. Alongside the Rohingya, the Karen people and other ethnic groups have faced brutal repression over many years and it’s important that UK pressure on the Burmese regime promotes the rights of all groups within the country.